Finances are improving and my personal do's and don'ts

Hello everyone,

I know it has been a long time since I've posted a journal entry. But to be honest, I've been using the time to do many things; the best of them is I'm close (a year at most) to being back in the hobby.

First of all, my finances are improving! The last thing I have to do is find a good part-time job to help with my bills. As soon as I'm ahead of the game, with money enough to pay a month or two ahead, I'll be back in the hobby. Right now I'm starting to look at some auctions (I was looking at the current David Lawrence auction before this.) Also, I'm looking at some store sites.

Secondly, I've made some do's and don'ts for me to aid me in my coin selection and what I do collect. The first big do is to really watch what I pay for an individual coin or currency. As most of you know, current catalogs and price guides are not very reliable when it comes to valuation. I've noticed especially in the currency side, some of my Mexican specimen notes were listed (for example in the Krause price catalogs) at values way, way above what the actual market will bear. So my first big don't is to not rely on the catalogs, but rather check out auction sales for a better idea of value.

My second big Do is I've used this time away as time to really decide what I'm going to collect. I've decided to narrow my interest to western mints (Denver, San Francisco, Carson City and New Orleans), with Carson City being my first choice. I will still be buying some currency, mainly to reflect my other interests of the West and the railroads. Also, for coins, silver will be my main thrust, but Buffalo nickels, Indian cents and Sac dollars will also be represented. A corresponding Don't will be not to buy something I like, but doesn't fit in with the above. However, my silver will mainly be 19th century coins and Franklin halves.

Well, I think I've covered everything. Hope everyone is well and finding great items for their collections. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to post, as I plan to keep posting a coin (or piece of currency with every journal post.

To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.